A light emitting element is increasingly required to have a higher output for the application to an illumination apparatus, a display device, a traffic lights, etc.
When a high concentration current spreading layer is provided between a light emitting layer and an electrode, carriers injected from the electrode is spread in a light emitting layer plane and a higher light output is emitted easily.
Further, when fine concave-convex structures are formed on the surface of the current spreading layer on the light emitting side, a light extraction efficiency is improved and a light output can be made further higher. In this case, by forming fine concave-convex structures using a dry etching method such as RIE (Reactive Ion Etching), it is possible to form the fine concave-convex structures having a size not more than the wavelength of the emitted light surely and also with increased productivity.
When the dry etching method is used, however, a crystal defect is easily caused in a processed area and an ion species sometimes intrudes into the light emitting layer. Thereby, the light output is sometimes degraded during long operation time.